Title

Building Bridges

Broad Question

What type of beam can hold the most weight?

Specific Question

Out of four different beams (girder, arch, flat, corrugated), which one can hold the most weight?

Hypothesis

It is hypothesized that the corrugated beam will hold a lot more weight than any other beam.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable:

Different types of beams.

Dependent Variable:

Weight that each beam held.

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Same length/width paper, cubes have to weigh the same weight (1 gram), the tables that will be holding the beams up have to be exactly eight inches apart, so that no beam gets a better advantage than another, each beam has to be made out of the same type of construction paper, evenly spread out cubes on the beams.

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

Corrugated- To bend into folds of ridges and furrows.
Girder- A beam folded into a 3D rectangle with 4 walls.
Arch- An upward curved structure.
Flat- A horizontally level.
Beams- Any various long piece of metal, paper, wood, etc., shaped and supported at each end.

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General Plan

This experiment was designed to calculate how much weight different bridges can hold. Four pieces of paper were cut (girder, corrugated, flat, arch) to make different bridges, which were called beams. Each had the same width and length, they were not taped to the table. There was a desk to hold up the four beams. The table has to be eight inches apart. That way they all had a fair advantage of holding up weight. Then, using cubes that all weighed the same (be sure to weigh one before you start stacking), the cubes were stacked one by one on each beam. Tally how many cubes are on each every time before another cube is added. Measure how much weight each beam can hold before it collapses or breaks. At the end, it was important to record in order (one through four) of what held the most weight, and the weight it held.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

This experiment isn't very dangerous, considering I'm using paper and cubes. It doesn't really hurt the environment also, but I am using a lot of paper (20 pieces).

Experimental Design

Number Of Trials:

20

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:

Four Beams (Corrugated, Girder, Arch, Flat)

When data will be collected:

Every other day, 4 trials a day for five days.

Number of Observations:

20, tallying up the cubes during each trial

Where will data be collected?:

In Mr. Yahna's science room

Resources and Budget Table

1. Twenty pieces of construction paper, preferably the same color. Already available.
2. Colorful cubes that are available from Penza, which are 1.0 grams each.
3. A desk set eight inches apart.
4. Notebook and pencil to record data.

Data Table

Time Line

February 26- Test and Finish my design
February 29- Design Draft turn in
March 2- Final Design turn in
March 11- Run the actual experiments.
March 15- Rerun extra trials
March 20- Finish up experiment
March 23- All data, observations, and evidence is due

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Background Research

Corrugated Beam- By pleating the paper you turn it into a set of upright lengths. Each upright has a lot more strength than a flat sheet.
Arch Beam-
A beam bridge is held up by pillars. The corrugated sheet makes a beam bridge, so does a girder. But an even stronger shape for bridges is an arch.
Arch Bridges are on of the oldest types of bridges. They have an arc-shaped span in the middle. The arc carries weight along it’s curve and out toward the two ends. This makes them stronger than a beam bridge because the two ends carry most of the load. Like this there’s not much chance of the middle sagging.
Corrugated Beam- the ripples in the paper don’t make it stronger, just more rigid. When you apply weight, the force that pulls the weight down (gravity) spreads it out across the fold. That allows it to hold the weight.
Henry Robinson Palmer, 1795-1844, was the founder of the institute of Civil Engineers. He gets the credit for inventing corrugated iron, which was manufactured in 1829 by the British. A year later it appeared in Australia. It was one of the most successful building material.
Flat Beam-
A flat bridge is only capable of handling so much weight, but there are other bridge designs that are able to sustain greater weight capacities.
Girder Beam- usually have an l-shape, but in this case it is more of a box. This is called a Box Girder. It forms an enclosed box with four walls. It is in a rectangular shape. This is also referred to as a cellular girder. It can only hold up so much weight before it collapses, as seen in some bridges recently.

Sources-
Maynard, Christopher. Kitchen science. London: Dorling Kindersley Pub., 2001. Print.


http://www.csiro.au/helix/sciencemail/activities/corrugatedpaper.html

http://www.ehow.com/info_8699665_light-weight-bridges-made-paper.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_girder

Detailed Procedure

1. Using data table 1 is where to put the information on.
2. Gather up all of the objects needed in this experiment.
3. Cut twenty strips of the construction paper. 12 inches for length and 4 ½ inches for width.
4. Fold and bend into different shapes, corrugated, girder, arch, and flat.
5. Set each beam eight inches apart on a desk.
6. Measure each cube.
7. Stack one cube on each of the beams, making sure to record how many each hold right as they are put on, just in case it falls and there wasn’t a record of how many cubes maximum it could hold.
8. Keep putting more cubes on each beam, still tallying them.
9. Keep stacking until the bridge collapses.
10. Do five trials for each beam.
11. When all the trials are tallied up, average out each beam for each design.
12. Turn the number of cubes into the weight of all of them. Multiply the number of cubes by how much one weighs.
13. List them for which beam is strongest to the least strongest. Put the weight and the number of cubes down next to it on the data table.
14. Experiment is finished.

Photo List

1. A picture of each paper (flat, girder, corrugated, arch), -4 pictures
2. Cubes in their container -1 picture
3. Cubes on various beams (to show how much weight each can hold) -2 pictures
4. A video of the beams in a row with maximum weight, one maybe collapsing, in order from which can hold the most weight -1 video
5. Building of the Bridges- how some were made, patterns in each, -4 pictures

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Results

In five trials, the corrugated beam had the highest average of 288 grams. The girder had the second highest average of 125.8 grams. In third was the arch shape with an average of 10 grams, and the shape that held the lowest number of cubes was the flat piece of paper with an average of 4.6 grams.

All Raw Data

Graphs

Photos

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Data Analysis

Conclusion

An experiment was conducted to test which folded patterns of paper held the most weight. The four different folded pieces of paper (arch, flat, corrugated, and girder) held around the same weight as predicted. This experiment was conducted to test which beam held the most weight. My independent variable, the structures or different patterns, and the dependent variable, the weight or number of cubes each beam holds. The folded pattern that held the most cubes on it, was the corrugated. In five trials, it held a total of 1,440 cubes. The corrugated paper held an average of 288 cubes. The girder shaped piece of paper was the second pattern to hold the most cubes. In five trials it had a total of 629, a difference of about 800 cubes. The girder pattern had an average of 15.8. Then in third for most cubes was the arched paper, with an average of 10. It’s total number of cube in 5 trials was 60. The paper with the lowest number of cubes is the flat piece of paper. It held a total of 23 cubes in five trials, with an average of 4.6.

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Discussion

The question of this experiment was to test which beam held the most weight, with four different types of beams, arch, flat, corrugated, and girder. The question was certainly answered in this experiment. The answer was the corrugated paper, with an average of 288 cubes on it. There were five trials conducted, with 1,440 cubes in total. The hypothesis was almost spot on with the results, in order of what beam would hold the most. A lot of information from the research supported the hypothesis, and now the results. There were a lot of patterns that were noticed during the experiment, especially for each beam. The corrugated for example, always had the most cubes on it for each trial. That shows a consistent experiment. The variables kept having the same patterns, it goes along with each beam for the independent variable, and how each one had around the same cubes for each trial. There were a few changes to a couple of things from the design to the experiment. First, it was planned to tape the beams to the table so they would have more support, but during the experiment it was decided not to tape them because that would give each one an unfair advantage. Also, five trials were added instead of just two, so there would be more data from each beam. I would be able to get a good average from more information, than from just two trials. To make this experiment more advanced, the bridges should’ve been made out of a stronger material than paper, because then it would hold more weight. Also it should’ve used something heavier than cubes, because then it would be more realistic to a real bridge which has cars, trucks,etc. There was no form of technology in this experiment, and the information it did have was about structure of each beam. If someone was conducting this experiment in the future, they should use more technology. The knowledge that was gained through this experiment will be of definite benefit to society. If there was someone trying to build a bridge, he/she would need to know what bridge structure would hold up the most weight for safety reasons. It could help solve a lot of problems, like for famous bridges in highly populated areas where people go on bridges all day, they could make it more sturdy by adding in different structure types to hold certain amounts of weight. Recently, there was a bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It collapsed under all the weight with many citizens and cars on it. New technology in the future could make programs on computers where it could virtually build a bridge by looking at this experiment and seeing what holds the most weight, and then they could easily build it without much failure in the bridge. It would help out many architects trying to figure out a sturdy structure for the bridge. This experiment could lead to new types of bridges, with help from the trials.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

This experiment would be a good benefit to our community and science. Recently, in Michigan a bridge collapsed from all the weight on it. My experiment would help out our community because it shows which bridge structure would hold the most weight. If architects start building the structure that holds the most weight from my experiment (corrugated), they will last longer. The bridge wouldn't have to collapse after a certain time, because with this experiment you know approximately how much weight the bridge could hold.

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to test which paper beam held the most weight. There were four beams being used in this experiment, corrugated, girder, arch and flat. The beams were laid on the edges of two tables, like a bridge. The experiment was linked to bridge construction and which structure of bridge would hold the most weight. The independent variable was the beams, and the dependent variable was the weight or number of cubes (they each weighed one gram) each beam held. Throughout the whole experiment, there were a total of 20 trials, 5 trials for each beam. The beam that held the most cubes on it was the corrugated. In five trials it held a total of 1,440 cubes. The corrugated beam held an average of 288 cubes. The girder beam was the second to hold the most cubes. In five trials it had a total of 629, a difference of about 800 cubes. Then in third, for most cubes, was the arched beam, with an average of 10. The beam with the lowest number of cubes was the flat piece of paper. It held a total of 23 cubes in five trials. The answer to the experiment was the corrugated beam which held the most weight. With this knowledge, architects and designers should use the corrugated designs in everyday life, like in bridges and cars. It would be the safest way to build a design that needs to be strong.